


Old Wounds

by yumedake



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Reaper76 Valentine's Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 14:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13812795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yumedake/pseuds/yumedake
Summary: The life of a soldier results in many wounds, some of which need help to heal.





	Old Wounds

**Author's Note:**

> My part in the Reaper76 Valentine's Exchange. A short, sweet ficlet. Enjoy!

One, two, three, four…if Jack wanted to, he could keep counting the scars on Gabe’s torso indefinitely, though there were other things to attend to at present. Gabe had been hurt because of him, because of his recklessness and impulsivity. Jack thought it would be a good idea to run into the fray, guns blazing. He had been incorrect.

“All these years we’ve known each other and still, you refuse to stick to my plan,” Gabe groused, his voice ragged as a result of the pain radiating from his right side.

Jack snorted, looking up at Gabe briefly before applying a bandage over an angry, raw munitions wound.

“All these years and you still haven’t realized that I don’t believe every little operation needs a forty-point strategy,” Jack countered gruffly.

Gabe sighed and closed his eyes, tilting his head back against the wall behind him.

“Strategy has always been my strong point and you know what? It kept me and my team safe on those Blackwatch missions,” Gabe replied, tired.

For a moment, all was quiet. The only noise was the sound of medical tape being ripped and the squeak of shuffling leather.

“That was a long time ago,” Jack mumbled after a while.

Gabe’s temper flared at Jack’s dismissal, kept it in check in favor of revealing the underlying worry.

“Your impetuous actions could get you killed,” Gabe countered, righting himself to look at Jack.

Jack looked back at the soulless black holes where Gabe’s warm brown eyes should be. God, Jack hated that mask.

“Maybe I want to die,” Jack replied, feigning nonchalance.

Gabe grabbed Jack by his shoulders, seething with a rage that was more fear than anything else. The claws on Gabe’s fingertips dug in tight like talons on prey and Jack was glad for the thick leather of his jacket.

“I’ve done that. I don’t recommend it and I will do everything in my power to make sure you don’t,” Gabe hissed, his words more threat than promise, as ludicrous as that was.

Jack sighed and deflated, the fight going out of him. Arguments were not how he wanted to spend his time, not after he had finally found what had been taken from him so long ago. Jack lowered his gaze, sealed the final bit of tape before slamming a biotic field down. As the field helped Gabe to heal, it bathed both in golden light. Jack wished he could see the way the color reflected in Gabe’s eyes.

“It’s just…” Jack started, shrugging Gabe’s hands off so he could remove his jacket. “Everything I do seems to end up causing pain. Overwatch chewed us both up and spit us out and now we’re old and broken and I’m tired, Gabe.”

Contrary to popular belief, the Reaper had a heart and right now, it was breaking for Jack. What he’d said was true - they had gone through the political machine and come out on the other side mangled and changed forever. No matter how hard Gabe wished to go back to a time before all of this, he knew it wasn’t possible.

If Gabe had believed in a God, he would have begged for the return of his golden, beautiful kid from nowhere, Indiana. Gabe missed the fire in Jack’s eyes, borne of determination and a sense of justice instead of a fire kindled by rage and bitterness, dulled only by too much drink.

But here they were, for better or worse. At least, Gabe thought, they still had each other.

Gabe followed suit, shrugging out of his gauntlets and the rest of his armor. He winced and hissed in pain as the wound at his side stretched and pulled. Jack shot him a frown that belied his concern.

“Stop moving so much. You gotta give the field time to heal you,” Jack scolded, brows creased and creating more lines in an already aged face.

“Shut up and get over here,” Gabe replied, unlatching the white mask he wore and letting it drop unceremoniously to the floor.

For a moment, Jack could only stare at Gabe’s face as it was revealed to him. He had not seen Gabe’s face since discovering the Reaper’s true identity. Jack expected to see a monster, mangled physically by whatever hell ran rampant through Gabe’s body, courtesy of an SEP serum. Instead, all he saw was his Gabe.

Sure, he had changed, aged and forever altered by the treatments they had both received. Whatever gave Gabe his ability to turn into a billow of smoke had altered those warm eyes Jack loved so much, turned them an unnatural red. There were spots on Gabe’s face that looked newly healed, held closed by sinewy strands. Yet despite these cosmetic changes, Jack knew it was still his Gabe in those red eyes. It gave Jack great comfort to see that at least there was familiarity, something to remind him of the past.

“You look like shit,” Jack observed, a barking laugh bubbling past his lips.

“And you look like an old man,” Gabe countered, tired of waiting.

Gabe grabbed Jack and pulled him close, hugging him tight to his chest. Jack went with surprisingly little resistance, shifting only to get more comfortable. One protective hand reached out to lay over the newly bandaged wound, as if to help it heal somehow.

“You smell the same,” Jack said softly, eyes closed and head tilting so he could nose beneath Gabe’s jaw.

There he was, Gabe thought, his Jack. Gabe smiled and his arm curled more tightly around Jack’s waist.

“You remember that Christmas you got me new cologne?” Gabe started, an amused smile on his lips. “You thought you were so slick, trying to change the cologne I normally wore for something you liked better. Turned out you didn’t like it on me, but I wore it anyway just to mess with you.”

Jack laughed, the sound hoarse.

“Yeah, yeah. So sue me for trying to do something nice,” Jack answered, laughing again.

“You can’t improve upon perfection, Sunshine,” Gabe shot back, his grin becoming smug.

Jack went stiff in Gabe’s arms. Gabe felt his adrenaline spike and his stomach clench, afraid he’d done or said something to sink the lighter mood they had only just started to enjoy.

“Been a long time since you’ve called me that,” Jack pointed out, his tone far away.

Gabe frowned, carded his fingers through golden hair gone white as snow.

“No matter how dark it gets, you’ll always be my Sunshine, Jack,” Gabe replied, his words a promise. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do but with time, I think we can patch all our old wounds.”

There were bugs outside, chirping songs into the fading light of the day. They were far away from the initial drop site and it would be dark soon. Eventually, they would need to think about where to bed down for the night and how to get to safety tomorrow. For now, neither man wanted to move.

“I’d like that,” Jack agreed, relaxing again.

Each shining star in the sky brought with it the hope that maybe what he and Jack once shared wasn’t so far out of reach. Maybe one day, they could be whole again.

“Yeah, me too.”


End file.
